Monday, June 16, 2008

My 1500th (and last) post on Google Maps Mania

This is a milestone post for me.. My 1500th! It's hard for me to believe that I've hit "Publish Post" at the bottom of this post-compose window that many times. 1500 posts translates into many,many hours that have been spent in front of a screen combing through blog posts looking for new sites, reading email submissions, clicking, dragging, expanding and exploring hundreds of Google Maps mashups. What a blast this has been! I've had a front-row seat to blog about how the most radical technology to ever hit the web, has also changed it forever. Changing the way we learn about our communities, changing how we plan travel and changing how we learn about the world around us. Google Maps and the Google Maps mashup phenomenon has also changed how developers and non-developers overlay information as they create maps. Each and every day I've been amazed by what developers from all over the world have been capable of doing when it comes to the Google Maps API.

This will be my last post on Google Maps Mania, but as far as the Google Maps API is concerned, I'm going far. In fact, I'll be closer to it. I have accepted a (dream) position on the Geo-Marketing team at Google (run by this guy) as a product marketing manager for the Google Maps API. This is obviously very, very exciting for me. It's not very often that you are given the opportunity to take the personal passion you have for something and turn it into a full time job. I'm fortunate enough to be doing this now, and it feels like a chance of a lifetime.

Although this is my last post, Google Maps Mania will live on! I'm handing over the reigns to Keir Clarke who many know by now is a very capable and passionate blogger that understands the Google Maps world very well. He's been writing together with me for several weeks now and I've been impressed with his posts and the fresh, new approach he has for covering new mashups and Google Maps news. As I've said in the past, Keir is a Google Maps pioneer creating some of the first Street View mashups on the web and his Google Sky and sightseeing mashups blazed new trails within the global mashup scene. Watch for more of these awesome mashups from him, in addition to his great posts. He asked me today if this final post for me would be sad. I told him that if I hadn't found someone capable of taking everything over I would have been far more disappointed. Today I'm not disappointed, I'm happy, and relieved that Google Maps Mania is in good hands with Keir at the helm.

So with that, I bid farewell to Google Maps Mania and to everyone that that has been tuning in since April 13th, 2005! Many of you have my Gmail address but if you don't, it's along the bottom of this post. I'm still looking forward to seeing everyone out at various Geo Developer conferences and events and I most certainly want to stay in touch with all of you to find out how your Google Maps mashup adventures are progressing, so please be sure to drop me a line!

All the best to everyone and a very sincere thank you to all Google Maps mashup creators and to the thousands of regular readers who for 3 great years have made Google Maps Mania the blog that it is today!